The White House is right -- if you were not transitioning to a new aircraft, then you did not need a flight physical and when you didn't show up, they marked you as not on flying status. That is customary and especially in the Guard where they could refuse to transition to a new plane. The ANG across this Country were transitioning out of F-102's and there were not enough planes to go around so if you were not transitioning, you were removed from flying status.
What part of that do people not understand?
Didn't the Globe story today say that Bush's ANG unit had only two F-102's left? If so, that doesn't sound like enough to go around for all the guys who were trained to only fly that specific plane.